Red Wine Cheesecake
Rating
This cheesecake is the ultimate dessert for red wine fans.
Ingredients
- FOR THE RED WINE SYRUP
- 250 ml (9 fl oz) red wine
- 50 g (2oz) caster sugar
- FOR THE CHEESECAKE
- 50 g (2oz) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease
- 200 g (7oz) dark chocolate digestive biscuits
- 500 g (1lb 2oz) cream cheese, at room temperature (we use Philadelphia)
- 40 g (1 ½oz) icing sugar
- 75 g (3oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces
- 300 ml (10 fl oz (½ pint)) double cream
- TO DECORATE
- Ferrero Raffaello chocolates and wafer rolls, optional
Instructions
- Make the red wine syrup. Put wine in a pan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Bubble until the liquid is reduced to one quarter of its original volume (about 8-10min, see GH tip). Turn off the heat, stir in the sugar until dissolved. Bring to the boil again for 1min, then immediately remove from the heat. Leave to cool.
- Lightly grease the base and sides of a 20.5cm (8in) round springform tin (see GH Tip). Unclip the tin to remove the base, then take a 30.5cm (12in) sheet of baking parchment and lay it over the base of the tin. Carefully clip the paper-covered base back into the tin so the paper is tightly stretched over the base and any overhang is trapped between the base and sides of the tin, then line sides of tin with another piece of baking parchment.
- Whiz the biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed - alternatively, crush them with a rolling pin. Add the melted butter to the processor or bowl and pulse/mix until the mixture clumps together. Press into the base of the prepared tin using a spoon, then chill until needed.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and 3tbsp of the cooled red wine syrup together with an electric handwhisk until smooth.
- Gently heat the white chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (make sure the base of bowl doesn't touch the water). When melted and smooth, lift bowl off the pan and allow to cool for a min. Quickly fold the chocolate into the cream cheese bowl until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it just holds its shape, then gently fold it into the cream cheese bowl until combined.
- Tip the cheesecake mixture into the tin and spread to make an even layer. Chill in the fridge for at least 6hr or overnight.
- Unclip cheesecake from tin and slide on to a serving plate or cake stand. Peel off the parchment around the sides. Drizzle some of the wine syrup over the cheesecake, sprinkle over the white chocolate if using, and serve in slices with a little extra syrup poured over.
- GH Tips
- To work out how reduced your wine is, after pouring the wine into the pan, put the handle of a wooden spoon in and mark a line where it comes up to. Divide the marked depth into quarters and mark a new line where the wine would be if it was just a quarter of the depth. You can then occasionally put the spoon handle in the wine as it boils, and use the mark to judge when it is reduced sufficiently.
- Clip the base of your springform tin in the wrong way round, so the raised lip is at the bottom of the tin (that way, you won't have to lift the cheesecake out over the lip when you come to serve it).
- The cheesecake will keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. The wine syrup will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week.
